


Pass Interference

by SensationalSunburst



Series: PawPaw!Cor [9]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Afterlife fic, Brief mentions of injury, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Gentiana has had about enough of his shit, Insomnia is Rebuilt, Mostly Fluff, PawPaw!Cor just wants to whoop some ass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 23:23:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11172249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SensationalSunburst/pseuds/SensationalSunburst
Summary: Cor Leonis is no guard of the afterlife, but there are a few people he refuses to allow in.ORWhen Iris's son arrives in the Beyond, Cor sends that thing right back where it came from... with a little help.





	Pass Interference

**Author's Note:**

> AKA- 
> 
> Gentiana has about had it with Cor's meddling.

“Cor! Hey! Cor!”

Cor blinked, and found himself standing on the steps of the Citadel, the sun bright in his eyes, forcing him to squint and dig for his hat in his back pocket. He grasped at nothing for a moment, before the thick bill of his cap was resting in his palm, pulled from the air or wherever things came from in the Beyond.

After he died and arrived in the afterlife, he was disoriented when he was Called from one end of Eos to another. It didn't happen often, but as Pluvia, Ignis's scholarly mother, had explained, his openness to seeing his loved ones allowed them to pull him from one place to another “if, of course, they have the appropriate motivation.”

It meant that he grew used to blinking and finding himself on the other side of the Citadel or out in Duscae, or once, all the way in Gahlad. Closing himself off would have eliminated the problem, but Cor found that he didn't quite mind it.

Usually.

But opening his eyes to Prompto’s uneven, panicked squawking wasn’t exactly the kind of greeting he looked forward to. The boy in question was scrambling backwards up the unblemished steps of the Citadel, pointing frantically at a figure at the base of the stairs. Cor fitted his cap on his head and crossed the distance between them to grab at the boy before he tripped over himself. Prompto turned, blue eyes as bright and tugged at Cor’s arm.

“Isn’t that? I could have-! Oh man, poor Iris!” Prompto tripped over his words, starting and stopping like a broken down car, struggling to get all of his thoughts from his mouth all at once. But the mention of Iris made Cor straighten and he took in the figure standing at the base of the stairs with a critical eye. The man was slightly shimmering, blue around the edges in the same way the ghosts of Noctis and his friends had once appeared to him, and he felt his stomach drop to his shoes.

Sorrel Amicita, Iris's only son, gripped his matte black motorcycle helmet to his chest with white knuckles, and stared up at the man too young to be his grandfather, honey eyes wide and confused. Beside him was Cor’s very own red 250cc motorcycle, just as dented and scratched as the day he’d put it away for good in Cid’s garage.

“That fool boy.” Cid grumbled, suddenly standing beside Cor. He was accompanied by similar pops of magic, the power of which felt like a ripples in a pond as others, undoubtedly drawn to Prompto’s panic in the same way Cor has been, began to appear on the steps behind him.

Sorrel’s mouth slipped open as he stared up at the collection of national heroes that had adorned the walls of his house since he was born. Cid, Cindy’s dad or grandfather, or whatever crossed his arms, a perfect match for the photo of him, PawPaw, Grandpa and King Regis that sat atop of the left side of the mantel.

“PawPaw?” Sorrel breathed, and Cor took several more steps down the stairs, forcing his spine straight and his face even as he swallowed the dread spreading like ice through his veins. The boy looked to be no older than seventeen, if that, still pocked marked and wild and _young_.

“What have you done, Sorrel.”

“I- Oh, holy shit!”

“Language.” Cor snapped automatically and behind him, Prompto switched immediately from horror to delight.

“Ohmygods, _PawPaw?_ ” There was a promise of future jokes there, but a swift, loud thwack followed by a whine indicated the someone, likely Gladiolus, had smacked up him upside the head.

“What do you remember? You can’t be here, not yet. It’s too early for you.” Cor said, eyeing the way the boy’s legs were shimmering and translucent, almost crystalline. He could see the bike’s exhaust pipe, rusted and worn refracted through his knees.

“I… I was on my way out to Aunt Cindy’s garage... to get Conner.” He said, frowning as he stared at the ground. His eyes drifted up, distracted, and Cor allowed him a moment to take in the people behind him. Cor didn’t need to look to know Gladiolus was there, his footsteps were loud, gait distinctive on the marble and made heavy by disbelief. Noctis and Ignis were muttering quietly, and if Cid had arrived then Clarus and Regis would have as well. Even after so long, they all still moved in units, bound to the habits of life.

“He looks just like you, Dad.” Gladiolus said and Clarus made a small sound of amusement just over Cor’s right shoulder.

“Focus.” Cor said and Sorrel snapped to attention, the tone bringing him back to when he was seven years old and getting into mischief under his grandfather’s watchful eye.

“There was something in the road. I could see Hammerhead. Ah! It was a person!” He jerked as if startled and his right arm blinked in and out of their plane, the hand gripping his helmet becoming translucent with the same, gem like quality as his legs.

Cor took it as a good sign.

“You swerved and crashed?” Cor asked.

“No, no. I swerved and something hit me.” Sorrel said, “I can drive better than _that_. Uncle Talcott taught me.”

“Uncle Talcott?” Noctis said, and Sorrel’s eyes drifted up the staircase.

“Uncle Gladdy! Uncle Noctis? Uncle Iggy...Whoa, so… Uncle Prom?” Sorrel was mostly talking to himself but Prompto let out a high, delighted laugh and Cor could hear him smack someone’s shoulder.

“Uncles, dude, that’s like, so freaking sweet!”

“What an honor,” Ignis said, a smile in his voice.

“Something hit you?” Clarus’s voice was likely louder than he intended it to be, but it cut through the murmurs above them well enough.

“Yeah, from my blindspot. I don’t remember anything else. Grandpa, right?” Sorrel’s smile grew as Clarus grunted in affirmation.

“Doesn’t matter. You cannot stay here. You have to go back.” Cor said, glancing behind him for the first time. Odessa and Aulea were on the step behind Clarus, hands twisted together. Aulea locked eyes with Cor and pressed her lips in a thin line, struggling to keep the concern off her face. Noctis, Ignis, Luna and Prompto a step above them in a line. Luna and Prompto had their arms linked together and Noctis had a firm grip on Luna’s free hand.

“I don’t know how.” Sorrel said, “Am I dead? Oh, _oh shit_. Aw, Mom’s gonna be pissed!”

“Language, and no, you’re not dead. Not yet. You’re going back.” Cor snapped.

“I’ve got an idea.” Noctis said, and Sorrel dropped his helmet as a streak of blue grey fluff leapt up from somewhere near his feet, off Noctis’s shoulder to bounce off the top of Cor’s head and straight into Sorrel’s chest. The helmet was silent as it clattered to the pavement  and Sorrel scrambled to catch Carbuncle as the little astral crawled up his chest to settle itself on his shoulders.

“Carbuncle seems to be a step ahead of you.” Ignis said. The astral chirped and flicked its tail against Sorrel’s face.

“I’ve- Mom has a little statue of you in the living room. We were never allowed to play with it.” He said in awe. Carbuncle chirped and if Cor didn't know better, looked rather self satisfied.

“Carbuncle will lead you back.” Noctis said, “He helped me once the same way, just make sure to follow closely.” At that, Carbuncle seemed even more pleased and twisted on the boy’s broad shoulder to rub its face against his cheek. Sorrel’s smile was bright, all teeth, and Cor’s heart ached for it.

“Go on now, get.” Cid barked, shooing him with both hands. Sorrel’s smile didn’t waver as he stooped to pick up his fallen helmet and fit it over his face. He flicked the visor up as he climbed onto the back of his battered motorcycle and took a moment to stare at the group assembled on the steps.

“We’ll be waiting.” Cor said, managing a smile, “Go on.”

“I love you PawPaw, we miss you.” Sorrel said.

“I love you too. Now, go.”

The bike purred to life, just as it always had for Cor, and Sorrel, Carbuncle wrapped about his shoulders, nails digging into the leather of his jacket, took off towards the Citadel’s gates. They were both gone within the space of a blink, the only evidence they’d been there at all a faint shimmer of crystals and the echo of an engine.

“And now,” Cid drawled, stepping forward to brush his shoulder against Cor’s.

“Indeed.” Cor said, and they both punched their way through the Veil.

 

Stretched before them, right leg bent at a strange, wrong angle, Sorrel was laying in the middle of the dusty road just outside of Hammerhead. On the other side of the road was a car, its grill bent from where it had hit the boy and his now, even more mangled, ancient red motorbike.

“-alright. Right plates and everything.” A blonde haired man, dressed in ratty jeans and a yellowing white t-shirt flipped up the visor on Sorrel’s helmet. Sorrel’s eyes were open, unfocused and he was mouthing something silently. In shock, Cor figured.

“Two birds, one stone, and the bike will have a good price; belonged to the Immortal, they say.” Said the other. He was shorter, stocky, hands wrapped in a cheap plastic looking driving gloves. Cor felt his katana materialize on his hip and he gripped the hilt hard enough to hurt. He couldn’t do anything from this side, couldn’t eviscerate them for hurting his boy over what, his fucking bike?

A shot rang out, echoing over the desert landscape and the blonde’s head was an explosion of red. The other man did not scream or shout as his companion dropped to the ground, instead standing frozen, eyes wide as Cindy cocked the gun. Her face was grim, lined with age and rage, and for a moment, Cor didn’t recognize her. He’d never seen her holding a weapon before, move like a predator before, but he could have wept with joy at the sight.

“Hands up.” She ordered, and the man immediately complied. He stepped back, away from the body of his co-conspirator and away from where Sorrel lay dazed. Conner, her son, scrambled around his mother and fell at his cousin's side. He ran shaking hands, still covered in motor oil, through his blonde curls and gently pulled off Sorrel’s helmet.

“Hey, hey man.” Conner's voice shook as he rested his hand against Sorrel’s flushed cheek. Sorrel's unfocused gaze snapped to the face hovering over his own, recognition dawning after a moment of empty blinking.

“Hey.” Sorrel gasped, “I.. I don't think we can.. ride today.”

Conner let out a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob and looked up as his mother advanced on remaining attacker.

“You… you fucking killed Flint!” His hands shook where they were raised beside a blotchy, sunburnt face, dark eyes glistening with fearful tears.

“Bless your heart,” Cindy drawled, voice still light despite the fire in her eyes and the body at her feet, “Y’all thought you'd get away with hurtin’ my kin?”

“The ambulance is almost here, man, just hang on.” Conner huddled over Sorrel, trying and failing to keep his eyes on his cousin’s face and not the angle of his leg or the blood pooling from the body next to him.

“Not going anywhere.” Sorrel wheezed.

“I'll hold you to it because Aunty is going to _kill_ you, man.”

“Naw… PawPaw won't… _fuck.._ wouldn't let me stay.” Sorrel’s face blanched as pain began to filter through his shock to previously numb limbs.

“Mom! Mom, shit, I uh… I think he's really hurt!” Conner began shaking in earnest.

Cindy glanced down at Sorrel, her lips a thin white line and the man she held at gunpoint took this for distraction. He twitched forward, hands out to grab the gun, but jerked back, screaming, as Cindy fired without looking and blew his kneecap away.

In the distance, a dust cloud and the faint whine of a siren announced the arrival of an ambulance.

Cor, who had moved to kneel by Sorrel’s head, scowled and flexed his fingers uselessly against the ground. Cid stood next to Cindy, pride evident in the set of his shoulders as he stared down at the writhing would-be thief.

The scene rippled, and Cor saw a flash of the Citadel's bright gardens as the Veil began to close.

“Not yet.” He snarled.

“He'll be fine, boy.” Cid said, but Cor shrugged off the hand he tried to lay on his shoulder.

“Not yet.” He repeated, pleading with whatever power dictated when they could spy on the living.

Cid shimmered out of existence with a grunt of displeasure and the glow of the blue energy, but Cor dug himself in. Tried to grasp onto the too bright sunlight, the heat of the desert. Tried to keep the feeling of the rough, dusty pavement under his fingertips from slipping away, but he could feel grass licking against his wrists even as he struggled.

The world rippled before his eyes again and Cor all but growled, refusing the pull from the Beyond. He kept his eyes wide open on the glaring red lights of the ambulance as it raced towards Hammerhead; refusing to blink lest the curtain close him off while his eyes were closed.

“The courage of your namesake, inseparably bound with the stubbornness of kings.”

“Not yet, Gentiana.”

The Glacian’s presence was evident in the chill just over his right shoulder and the soft click of her heels as she glided, steady and sure to stand before him on the other side of Sorrel’s supine form. Despite the fact that she was chilling the air mere inches from Cindy's back, Cindy didn't seem to notice. Her furious gaze was locked once again on the man panting on the ground before her.

“Why resist the call of paradise?”

“I need to know he'll be alright.” Cor said, blinking away the dryness of his eyes. He risked a glance up at Gentiana, taking in the ever present smile and closed eyes and frowned.

“I'm not sure how you all work. If you see each other as family or not or if you’re so far removed that we’re just playthings. But surely, with the eons you've spent watching us, you’ve got some semblance knowledge of what it means to care for others.” Cor said, and Gentiana opened her eyes. Distantly, he wondered if he'd offended her.

“Return, oh protector of kings.” She reached out, the movement faster than he'd thought her capable in her human form and pressed a single finger to his forehead. The result was instantaneous and painful. His body was immediately covered in a fine layer of frost, causing his breath -fast and startled- to puff up in front of his face. Her irresistible push sent him careening backwards, sprawling to his back and when he blinked the mist from his eyes, he scowled, shivering uncontrollably, at the ceiling of the Citadel's library.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
